Virginia Politics Blog Archive: William Howell

The Virginia General Assembly was unable to complete revisions to the state's two-year budget Saturday and announced plans to extend its annual legislative session. "We're dealing with huge amounts of money in a very short amount of time,'' House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) said. "If we go over a day or two, I don't think that's significant at all." House and Senate negotiators continued meeting Saturday, but differences in public safety and social services spending still remained. "There's work going on,'' Sen. R. Edward Houck (D-Spotsylvania) said. "We're not finished, but work continues. It could be resolved rather quickly. It could still drag out for a while." The 46-day session was scheduled to end Saturday. It will be the sixth session extension in a decade at a cost of about $20,000 a day for each additional day....

The Virginia House of Delegates included $410,000 in its budget released Sunday for a program that would require businesses to provide insurance coverage for children with autism. Speaker Bill Howell (R), House Majority Leader Kirk Cox (R) and House Appropriations Committee staff directed the money be put in the budget even though Del. Lacey E. Putney (I-Bedford), chairman of the Appropriations Committee, was opposed. And Putney, who voted against the autism bill Wednesday, said he was not told of the budget move beforehand. "Do you think I know everything in the budget, honey?" he asked. "I don't know what's in a $78 billion budget...I don't know."...

The senate's Rehabilitation and Social Services committee rejected an effort by a Republican to put consideration of the governor's plan to privatize state liquor stores Friday, essentially putting a final nail in the coffin of the proposal's legislative chances.

Del. Jackson Miller has asked Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to determine whether federal law allows the General Assembly to cap insurance coverage for families of autistic children at $35,000 a year as a House bill requires.

"After we pass this bill, I'm confident that we'll have no more partisan attack speeches about big government, about taxes, about job-creating, about economic environment--no more hypocritical accusations," Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax) said during the floor debate Tuesday. "That's all behind us now...So let's pass a good stiff mandate, one that was not even included in Obamacare itself."